Have you ever read an article and looking at the shares had a bout of jealousy? Social networking can do this to an article. The Facebook button reads 10K+ and the Twitter one might read the same or more for retweets. The question that must come to mind is, how do they do it? That article obviously went viral.
Maybe, viral articles are just a symptom of a larger problem like memes and videos. The thought that a large audience is not a quality seal is an obvious one. You’re not alone if you arrived at this conclusion. You could even be right. In most cases, articles that go viral are nothing more than hot air; a blow dry for the mind. But at times, an article that is excellent, intellectual, and even complex does go viral. You don’t need to please people that want to read only about X-Factor. You may write articles that matter.
Having an article go viral isn't just good for your ego; it’s also rocket fuel for your career as an author and writer. Authors sometimes don’t want to admit the reality of today that we are living in an online world of social networks. No matter what your feelings are about social networking or electronic readers, you must embrace all of those things wholeheartedly to make it as a writer these days.
Editors know how many Twitter, Facebook, and whatever followers you have; publishers expect you to market your own writing, and employers are more apt to choose you if you’re social-media adept. Being able to write a possibly viral articles is a vital part of the current social networking craze.
Writing an article just for the possibility that it might go viral does more harm than good. The first concern in selecting a topic to write about should be to pick something about which people will care. Research is key to finding the right topic. There are websites that show what is trending in social media circles. Bottlenose, for example, offers free software for installation to analyze and consolidate Twitter trends. Another one is Google Trends. Trending topics have a better chance of going viral, but there are exceptions. One of which is the flip-side of the coin: under-reported topics.
The title of your article can make or break a piece going viral. Spend time on your title and carefully consider what you yourself would click on. When going for your title, keep the words provocation and curiosity at the front of your mind. Titles are make or break for all your articles, so this should be no news for you. A good title tempts readers to read your articles. Remember that the article title is the bait when fishing for readers.
Whatever you do, without social media your article has almost no chance of ever going viral. You should share your articles on all of your social networks; and then you should ask others to share your work, too. Ask, beg, and tell your friends and family to share your articles with their followers. They help you to start off. Articles go viral this way every day, and yours can too. Your best friend, spouse or relative may fire the starting shot for an article that gets read by millions through the interminable friends relay system that is called social network.
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